Watched "Ted" earlier on Channel 4 (actually Channel 4+1, I got in too late to catch the start on normal C4). Now, I've seen it before and remember enjoying it a lot (of which more later), but I was never sure how much of that was because it was any good, or funny, or whatever. I'm pretty sure I mainly enjoyed it first time around because I'd taken a lot of drugs. But having watched it again tonight, I still liked it. It was good, if you're in the mood for that sort of thing, I thought, and this time I haven't taken any drugs at all!

May I tell you a story? I'm going to anyway.

Last time I saw this, it must have been...2013? Possibly 2014. Around that time. Whenever it was first on TV, anyway. Now, by that time, I'd not had any actual cannabis for a few years, mainly because my regular supplier had given up dealing (because he'd settled down and got married, had a kid and all that). I didn't blame him at all; even though dealing in soft drugs isn't exactly a serious crime these days, it still sort of was then - and still sort of is now - if you deal in the quantities that I like to buy. I like to buy in bulk because it's cheaper and means you need to buy less regularly. Anyway, that wasn't a problem, we're still good friends, we go bowling regularly, it's all good.

So when that supply stopped, I obviously looked for something to replace it. Fortunately, I already knew about the whole "legal" scene as I occasionally dipped into that market, sometimes out of necessity (there are always occasional dry periods in any area) and sometimes just out of interest. To be honest, I wasn't altogether impressed; there were products that were kind of OK, but nothing that really could be described as a genuine cannabis substitute. And back then, there were a lot of these blends available; the best-known of these was the original Spice (not the stuff sold as Spice these days, which seems to be pretty much anything cooked up by anyone in a dirty kitchen), which wasn't bad, but wasn't anything great (Spice Gold and Spice Diamond were pretty much the same thing but slightly stronger). Another one was called Skunk and that was better - in that it simulated cannabis more closely - and there were plenty of other "brands", but none of them were amazing.

Then I found out how they were made. Basically they got some inert smokable substances (marshmallow leaf, damiana, passion flower, that sort of thing) and added various amounts of (never specified) synthetic cannabinoids. When I found this out and realised that you could buy the same cannabinoids in pure form, I quickly moved onto those.

Back then it was easy to buy pretty much anything you wanted in pure form and in pretty much any quantity, if you were prepared to trust some fairly sketchy people. And there was such a ridiculous and bewildering amount of synthetics available, it was difficult to know where to begin. You could easily get all the JWH variants (018, 019, 073, 081, 122, etc.), AM-2201, 5F-AKB48, STS-135, PB-22, UR-144, and that's just off the top of my head. Later, they were joined by the FUBINACAs and CHMINACAs, which were even stronger, but they're kind of another story.

JWH-018 was (and remains) the best of the bunch. If used right, its effects are genuinely indistinguishable from really good pot, but it became more and more difficult to obtain. I remember my favourite supplier (buythemg) selling off his entire stock at a ridiculously low price in 2010, because he wanted to get out of the business. I bought quite a bit, but in retrospect, not enough; after that it became hard to get at a reasonable price, or at least what I would consider reasonable. Fortunately all the other substances were still about and seemed to be getting cheaper by the day.

And that was definitely the way forward, or at least that's the way I saw it at the time. For about a tenner, you could get a gram of any of these cannabinoids, and you only needed a couple of milligrams to get you completely fucked. With tolerance, that might become about five milligrams, but it was still fantastic value. It was much cheaper than cannabis, more reproducible in its effects and most importantly, much, much stronger. OK, sometimes it could get a bit much and you'd have to go for a bit of a lie down, but that seemed a small price to pay (and wasn't necessarily in itself unenjoyable). I had some amazing times and thought it would never end.

It did, of course. When the Psychoactive Substances Ban was enacted in 2016, almost everything disappeared overnight. Oh sure, it's possible (and not even that difficult) to still get anything, but the golden days are over now. There are some European sellers who are prepared to supply but not many, and no UK sellers left at all now.

But I digress.

When I started out typing this message, I meant to relate how I first watched "Ted". One of the suppliers that I bought quite a lot of cannabinoids from always used to throw in a sample of the pills they were also selling, generally "Benzo Fury" (5-APB, a benzofuran and so almost the polar opposite of a cannabinoid in its effects). I really wasn't interested in pills and probably wouldn't ever have even tried them, but one day (when "Ted" was on) I'd momentarily run out of stuff to smoke and in a moment of madness, just decided to take a couple. And my god, they were incredible. I REALLY enjoyed the film. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a film more. Everything was heightened. Lines and situations in the film that weren't particularly funny became hilarious. The bit where the fat kid gets his hands on Ted became incredibly tense and exciting - life or death exciting - and then the denouement was really, really touching and lovely.

And now I've rewatched it without drugs, I'm quite glad that I still found it quite funny, and exciting, and yeah, even quite touching. So it's probably not that bad a film really. Yeah, it's juvenile and crass, but it does sort of have a heart.

To be honest I've forgotten what the point of this message was now, but since I've written it all I might as well post it.

And come to think of it, it might have been "Ted 2" that I was thinking of in the first place, which kind of negates everything I've said. Oh well.

Re. my last insanely long message, it was indeed the original Ted that I was thinking of, as I watched Ted 2 last night and it was nowhere near as good. There's no way I'd have been affected emotionally by that in any way, no matter how many drugs I'd taken. It was far too obvious in its attempts to wring a reaction from its audience, for a start. You should never be able to notice the mechanics of a film while you're watching; if it's any good, you'll be more invested than that.

Anyway, have I mentioned "Ant-Man" yet? I really enjoyed it, more than I have most of the other Marvel films that I've seen, and I've enjoyed most of them in one way or another. It seems to get a lot of hate online, which I can't understand. Maybe that's because it doesn't take itself too seriously, which fanboys don't necessarily like?

Re. my last insanely long message, it was indeed the original Ted that I was thinking of, as I watched Ted 2 last night and it was nowhere near as good. There's no way I'd have been affected emotionally by that in any way, no matter how many drugs I'd taken. It was far too obvious in its attempts to wring a reaction from its audience, for a start. You should never be able to notice the mechanics of a film while you're watching; if it's any good, you'll be more invested than that.

Watched a rake of stuff in the last few days. Don't normally enjoy superhero stuff but Spiderman Homecoming and Wonder Woman were both better than expected. I enjoyed Spiderman more, I think he's the best of all the superheroes when done right. Didn't like the amazing reboots but liked the Sam Raimi ones and this one. Wonder Woman was cool too apart from the ending fight which was a bit too over the top.

Enjoyed Baby Driver too. I think I've managed to find a way to lower my expectations now so when a movie gets good word of mouth I just expect it to be crap and thus pleasantly surprised when it turns out decent. It's no masterpiece but worth a watch.

Nightcrawler on the other I had heard good things of and expected to be good and it lived up to that and more. It's terrific.

Also rewatched a few old favourites such as Dumb and Dumber and Get Shorty. Quality stuff all round.

Just watched two good films, Marjorie Prime, a cerebral Sci-fi about the human condition, and Mudbound an excellent adaption of the book by Hillary Jordan. Excellent acting all round, could be Netflix first best picture Oscar

I Googled the answer and the most portrayed character in film and television is Sherlock Holmes. What the hell is no 2?

Ah. Apparently he's the most portrayed literary character (although how is the devil not a literary character). All the first few Google hits had the Sherlock Holmes answer. The satan/santa article was much further down.

Also watched the first two Beverly Hills Cop movies and Fletch recently. Love the Harold Faltermayer soundtracks. What's everyone's favourite soundtracks? I'm looking for original score only, not just a film with a good collection of already released songs. Might try come up with a top ten list of my favourites.

Also watched the first two Beverly Hills Cop movies and Fletch recently. Love the Harold Faltermayer soundtracks. What's everyone's favourite soundtracks? I'm looking for original score only, not just a film with a good collection of already released songs. Might try come up with a top ten list of my favourites.

I will do mine, having had a little think. In no particular order.
1. Inception
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Phantom Thread
4. Mudbound
5. Batman ( first one I actually bought )
6. The Third Man
7. Psycho
8. Jaws
9. Swiss Army Man
10. Catch Me if You Can (also my favourite opening credits )

Also watched the first two Beverly Hills Cop movies and Fletch recently. Love the Harold Faltermayer soundtracks. What's everyone's favourite soundtracks? I'm looking for original score only, not just a film with a good collection of already released songs. Might try come up with a top ten list of my favourites.

Also watched the first two Beverly Hills Cop movies and Fletch recently. Love the Harold Faltermayer soundtracks. What's everyone's favourite soundtracks? I'm looking for original score only, not just a film with a good collection of already released songs. Might try come up with a top ten list of my favourites.

Like I said, infinity war and Han Solo are the two latest cinema movies I saw.
Avengers infinity war gets a 9.5/10. Possibly a 10/10
Han Solo gets a 4, 5 or 6 out of 10. The six would be for the scene with darth mail.

Like I said, infinity war and Han Solo are the two latest cinema movies I saw.
Avengers infinity war gets a 9.5/10. Possibly a 10/10
Han Solo gets a 4, 5 or 6 out of 10. The six would be for the scene with darth mail.

Like I said, infinity war and Han Solo are the two latest cinema movies I saw.
Avengers infinity war gets a 9.5/10. Possibly a 10/10
Han Solo gets a 4, 5 or 6 out of 10. The six would be for the scene with darth mail.

Watched Ready Player one on DVD
Problem was I got a little bogged down with finding the Easter Eggs
I spent more times pausing the action that I forgot to enjoy the film.
But the best film I've seen recently is Tully.
Brilliant film about the struggles of motherhood, Charlize Theron's best film since Monster
Excellent twist in the end that I never saw coming.

Watched the matrix the other night. Never liked it originally but I kind of enjoyed it a bit more this time around. The action set pieces are excellent and the special effects mostly hold up but the plot, dialogue and the "oh so cool 90s hacker" aesthetic are pretty cheesy. Maybe it's because they've been overused and parodied so much but I can do without the hanging in mid air and wall walking stuff.

And how did they manage to squeeze two sequels out of a movie where the ending is essentially that the main protagonist is basically a God?

I watched The Thing the other day. Thought it was quite good. A bit silly really, but entertaining enough.

One of my favourite Sci-fi films.
It's almost like a whodunnit with special effects.
That film is 25 years old and the special effects still look superb.

The Thing was released in 1982, so 36 years old. It's widely regarded as the last "big special effects" film not to have used CGI.

Goodness me I knew it was made in the early eighties but my brain refused to believe it was so long ago.

Interestingly , both The Thing and Bladerunner ( another film with no CGI ) came out just after ET, and both films were panned by the critics at the time.
Also ,probably due to ET didn't do well at the box office either.
But the home video market was just taking off and these films quickly gained a cult following, including me.
Now both films are considered, rightly so, to be masterpieces.

Fun fact about The Thing, there are Characters called Mac and Windows in it.

This week I've seen three films
Oceans 8, surprisingly good, but it's no Widows ( one for next month )
MI 6.
Best action movie I've seen in a long time.
Some of the stunts Tom Cruise did were incredible the HALO jump and the Helicopter chase were out of this world.
Tag..quite good considering its simple premise

Saw First Man last night.
Brilliant piece of cinematography and the best use of a theramin in a music score ever
Anyone interested in the moon landings should watch it.
Ryan Gosling really is a fine actor .
Clare Foy was a revelation.
If you only see one film at the cinema this year,
Then I recommend this one